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Feb 3, 2012

Friday, February 3, 2012, David Steinberg

Theme: IN RE FRIDAY. The letters RE are placed In front of the second word of phrases in the language, creating a new and scintillating expression. This puzzle appears to be the LAT debut of the NYT wunderkid DAVID STEIN-BERGwho while in middle school at 14, had his first NYT puzzle published. I am so impressed by this and his other work, considering his age and varied knowledge. The theme is simple, but he packed lots of letter 2 11's, 2 13's and the grid-spanning middle. Two of the theme fill are very witty and the puzzle is not filled with teenage trivia, like rappers or JWOW. Let's get to work.

22. Capital of Colorado?: CEE. The letter which is capitalized. Not capital.

24. T designation: LGE. T shirt size.

25. Marlin's son, in a 2003 film: NEMO. Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, is Nemo's father and Coral is Nemo's mother. Both are clownfish.

26. Caused an insurrection: UPROSE. Hence uprising.

28. Court maneuver: PIVOT. Basketball court.

32. Jungle noise: ROAR. She is woman.

33. Characterize : DESCRIBE. A literal clue and fill.

40. Two-part answer: YES AND NO. Do you love this puzzle?

41. Vet: EX-GI. Great letter combo with fair clue.

42. Bangkok natives: THAIS. You heard of the ones who liked using string. The Thais that bind.

43. Pennsylvania home of Lafayette College: EASTON. More famous to me for the ASSASSIN.

45. Control: TAME. You can slow him down, but you cannot keep him down.

48. Well-chosen: APT. The In Re theme was well chosen for me.

49. Colorado native: UTE.

56. Signs of press conference uncertainty: UMS. Gee, ahh, you know...

60. Type of screen, briefly: LCD. Liquid Crystal Display. Not to be confused with LSD.(see 37D).

61. Put down: WRITE. C'mon put down your thoughts on paper and give them to me. But don't put me down when you do. Put me down for two tickets.

62. Prey catcher: TALON. Eagles Falcons, and not from the NFL.

63. "__-hoo! : YOO. The drink?

64. Marine: Abbr.: NAUT.ical.

65. City south of Florence: SIENA. Part of TUSCANY. Also San Gimigiano from Martha Grimes and Melrose Plant. With 4D. Florence's river ARNO. LINK

Down:

1. Co. for surfers: ISP. Internet Service Provider. web not water surfers.

2. Degree in math?: NTH. Soundth right to me.

3. Work together: COOPERATE. We Corner denizens try.

5. Is suspicious: SMELLS. Something smells rotten in Denmark. Our Will reference of the day.

6. Firewood measure: STERE. The old metric name for a cubic meter. In the US we do our cut wood in cords.

7. Activity centers : LOCI. Just Latin for Place..

8. Apple's G5, e.g.: iMAC. Any of you own one?

9. Take out: DELE. Before you get all nit and picky, this is a WORD, not an abbreviation.

10. Enchantress who lived on the island Aeaea: CIRCE. Which relates to21D. Draws in: ENTICES. Do you all remember the SIRENS link with ELLE?

11. Starters: A-TEAM. When I had the ATE, I was confused trying to recall a two letter appetizer.

12. Presto, for one: TEMPO. JzB, can you teach all our choices?

15. 35mm camera initials: SLR.. single-lens reflex. The name derives from the reflection of the image.

18. Continue violently: RAGE. A dangerous thing.

22. Medicine, one would hope: CURE. Seldom the case, more likely to find something for you to take for the rest of your days.

23. Modeling aid: EPOXY. A strong glue, but Dennis and his hobby store can tell you more.

27. Agamemnon's avenger: ORESTES. My sons FIL and a great piece of MYTHOLOGY.

28. Lowly workers: PEONS. It is not true this word comes from describing the poor serfs who were outside the wall when the Lords and Ladies had to relieve themselves.

29. "This __ joke!": IS NO. I know nut I am trying hard to get there.

30. Taper?: VCR. You, the machine which tapes.

31. Its processing produces slag: ORE. Isn't slag a great word, and a new way to clue a cw staple.

33. Actress Conn: DIDI. A semi call out to our own FRENCHIE, Conn's character in GREASE.

34. Critter in a domed shell: BOX TURTLE.A North American species which like man, eats pretty much everything it can catch.

35. Cereal killer: ERGOT. Really fun clue to describe this disease that attacks plants, especially grains like Rye. It is the root of LSD, and may have created the Salem witch hysteria. If you want to know more you can go to this LINK, or maybe you want to try some LSD? 37D. "Forget it!": NAH.

38. "'Twas white then as the new-fa'en __": Alexander Anderson: SNA. Snow in the highlands. I miss CA and her poems, anyway AA wrote the classic CUDDLE DOON.

39. Thing to do in style: DINE. Bill G. has recounted many a fine meal here.

43. Foil alternative: EPEE. With the saber, the three fencing swords.

44. Diamond turns: AT BATS. Baseball diamond.

45. For real: TRULY.

46. Transmission repair franchise: AAMCO. Luckily for you all I could not find the double A M C O jingle.

47. Screw up: MIS DO. In Game of Thrones, people mislike, not dislike.

48. Stop on the Métro?: ARRET. Our French lesson of the day, the word just mean stop, but the accent aigu tells you it is French.

51. "Charlotte's Web" monogram: EBW. Elwyn Brooks White, who also wrote of Stuart Little and Elements of Style.

52. Beach flier: TERN. Relatives of the Gulls, but not this SONG (4:02).

53. Yu the Great's dynasty: HSIA. I defer to you C.C., as I thought his was the XIA dynasty. (From C.C.: Xia (Mandarin) and Hsia (Cantonese) are the same. Xia means "summer". Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang... order of Chinese dynasties. Hence my Mandarin name Zhou Qin, two of the consecutive dynasties whose capital was in Xi'An, where I grew up.)

54. Famous last words: ET TU. Brutus.

55. Berry used as a dietary supplement: ACAI. The miracle drug of the internet; if I were paid for every unwanted ad I received on this very blue berry...

58. Bass ending: OON. Our musical clue; not to be confused with the OBOE.

59. Protein-building polymer: RNA. Polymer is from the Greek POLY meaning many, MER parts; it is now associated with large molecules with repeating structure. Beyond that, ask our scientists.

Well another Lemonade special in the books, it was fun, but a 15 year old? Why was I not doing this then? More winter in PA and early spring in WI? Have a great week all and welcome David; I know it must be past your bedtime, but we will talk in the morning.

82 comments:

This one nearly did me in. I finally got the theme at BEST REACTOR and went back and filled in a lot of blank spaces. Still couldn't get RAISE THE REBAR, though.

The whole SE section was a mess, in fact. I had E_GI at 41A for the longest time and just couldn't think of where I had gone wrong, since that couldn't possibly be correct (or so I thought). Did not know EASTON. Couldn't make sense of "Diamond turns". Had no idea what creature had a domed shell. Ugly, ugly, ugly. I finally went through the alphabet and got the missing X at 41A, and that opened things up for me.

Elsewhere, HSIA was unknown as was DIDI and SMA. Wasn't thrilled about SMELLS. Everything else was pretty smooth, though. "Cereal killer" for ERGOT was cute. Oh -- and so proud of myself for knowing ORESTES.

Wow, this was a real bear of a puzzle, and from a 15-year-old to boot! Most impressive.

Without going into all my travails, my first answer was 'AOL' for 1D, and so it went for most of this one. Fell into the first theme answer with lots of perp help, and that was a big aid with the rest of them. Too many unknowns to list, but again the perps bailed me out. I really, really enjoyed the experience; very challenging and educational, for me anyway. More specifics later, time permitting.

On the housing front, we finally have a deal after what seemed like endless negotiations.

So as of April 1st, we're officially Florida residents. We signed a six-month rental agreement, so we'll have plenty of time to find a house. In the meantime, we decided to splurge a little since we'll never have this opportunity again, and rented a furnished penthouse unit overlooking the Intercoastal on one side, the ocean on the other, and a marina below us. I may never leave the balcony and I can't wait to 'check the wind'.

Sorry to ramble with personal stuff like this, but this has been a dream at least 20 years in the making.

Dennis, sounds like you're going to be living the sweet life. My daughter and son-in-law live in Florida and love it. Stay away from her when pursuing your new business venture. There are plenty of other women on the beach.

I know where lafayette college(home of the Leopards)is nice reference to Larry Holmes (I saw a fight of his against Scott Frank and after the fight Scott Frank said Larry was an up and comming fighter and had the potential to be champ. I thought this funny as Scott Frank was knocked out in the 5th round(TKO) and Larry Holmes who was already the champ.

TGIF all Super Bowl this weekend I am in it for the ads my son wants the Patriots (where did I go wrong)

Great puzzle today. Cute theme, nice fill. Wasn't sure about HSIA, but the crosses (per Steve) were solid. Got the theme early for a change, and even finished in good time.

Blue Iris, UMS also made me think of Rick Perry. I was really hoping he'd keep on running, but, alas, he stUMbled back to Texas.

Here's an Alt Alt QOD from today's AWAD (do you subscribe?) Thought it was particularly appropriate for this group:Few things are more satisfying than seeing your children have teenagers of their own. -Doug Larson, columnist (b. 1926)

Didn't give up, but did have to Google in the south central for the W in white. That gave me the WRITE and enough confidence to put the A and T back in NAUT, which erased twice. Also tried to google Yu the Great. Only came up with Xia, but it felt like a sensible leap of faith. So...finished with assistance, but thought it a bit too arcane to really unjoy.

Speaking of polar ice recap, a spotted THIS item when checking my e-mail. The picture alone is worth seeing, but don't miss the description.

Oh my, what a ride, David! I loved everything about this puzzle and put in TRITE (put down?) for WRITE to only have one cell MISDO. Theme was fun and helpful and cluing yielded fun moments – EXGI, VCR, LGE, ATBATS!!,

Musings-I’ve had my share of 15 year old wunderkinds and David fits that to a TEE.-Didn’t know I knew CIRCE, ORESTES, ARRET, HSIA, ERGOT-Pete Rose’s popularity has also SLID-Big STORM on the prairie today-I’ve been to SIENA and sat on the banks of the ARNO and loved Tuscany-Couldn’t get RONJON in for surf co.-I considered TIVI for acTIVIty center with _ _ _ I -I remember DIDI as a Beauty School Dropout-Dennis, when’s the house warming? I can pick up Tinman and bring some chips. Congrats!-Hahtool, public anger is the bane of the golf course. It’s a freaking game!

I'm amazed! Not that I got stuck in the east and SE, --it is Friday after all. But that it was the work of such a young constructor! Congratulations David!

Congratulations also to Dennis. You'll need your binoculars to survey the prospects for that new career from up there on that penthouse balcony!

I got the theme early with RECAP, but then couldn't come up with the ends for the others. So the whole SE corner was a dead loss. I thought of SIENA for 65A, but thought it had two n's and so left it blank.

I'm finally ready to send off my newsletter, so I might be here a bit more again for a while.

There wasn't anything too difficult in this one. The theme fell in place with RECAP and made the other theme entries pretty easy to solve.

Loved the 'taper'/VCR clue.

It's been a while since we've seen SIENA in a puzzle. We toured the town on our last visit to the Tuscany region. Lots of overpriced arts and crafts, but still a nice place to visit.

Uhoh, Dennis, now you're going to be looking for a penthouse to buy... that rarified air up there kills off the brain cells that make rational decisions about housing, you know. From last night, yes, lots of ports, except none in Antarctic. That was all scenic cruising from Ushuaia, Chile to So. Georgia Island. When we got to the Falkland Islands I was hoping to take the glass-bottom boat tour to view the Argentinian navy, but had to settle for a penguin rookery instead.

You cracked me up with your PEON comment! Fun write-up and links today.

This would have been a speed run today, except for that nasty little section with:EBW (EAP are the literary initials that always show up, but I knew he didn’t write “Charlotte’s Web”!)TERN (I had erne at first)HSIA (Really need to study up on Chinese dynasties – I wanted “Ming”)ET TU (I had “a dam”) (I know, it should be “a damn…”).

Not only that, all of those crossed not one, but TWO of the theme entries!

So lots of head-scratching before I finally sussed enough of the perps to come up with RAISE THE REBAR. BEST REACTOR followed, and got it done.

Grumpy1, I remember a Globetrekker episode where they traveled to So. Georgia Island and Antarctica. Looked like it was very cold, but still fun. Penguin rookeries looked interesting...smelly...slippery.

I found this a breezy easier then usual Friday puzzle. The theme was simple and quickly revealed which allowed rapid progress through the puzzle.

I had ROAR and was looking at UPROSE and said better not be UPROAR better not be UPROAR. Mistaken fill was RECS for LOCI and STARTS for AT BATS but that was about it. Love me some mythology with ORESTES and on yeah CIRCE which I first dumped in MEDEA, that one too.

Great puzzle (even though I wasn't smart enough to finish it). Now that I look at Lemon's write up I see that there were some great clues. I liked: T Designation: LGE, Put Down: WRITE, Taper? VCR, Cereal Killer: ERGOT, and Diamond Turns: AT BATS.

Grumpy: Ushuaia is one of my favorite places in Argentina. We spent quite a bit of time at the university there. It's a great place to live for a few months, but I need a warmer climate for year-round.

Finally got all the theme fill. Clever with the RE inserts. STERE threw me; had 'cords' for a while. EXTENSION RE CORD seemed awkward to me. And CEE seemed bland. But there were many good clues ie. TAPER, AT BATS and A TEAM. ARRÊT was a nice change from the usual French fodder. Overall, I thought David gave us a good and fair workout.

Good Morning!I found this morning's write-up very entertaining and educational. I had no idea about STERE. Did you know that those folks outside the gates, looking to better their lot in life, attended Peon U?

The puzzle on the other hand - is he really 15? I'm well and truly humiliated. DNF. Oh well, Onward!

Dennis, congrats on realizing a dream. I too have friends in FL tha love it there.

Hahtool, thanks for the correction on Ushuaia's location in Argentina rather than Chile. The border is just a few miles away from the town and I didn't remember which side it was on. We came through the passage from west to east and had to clear Chile customs again after leaving Ushuaia because of the way the border meanders through that area.

Congrats David Steinberg! I am in awe of your accomplishment at such a young age and I really enjoyed your puzzle. Thanks, Lemonade, for the most informative write-up and the link to our constructor.

~~ I sat with my erasable pen for quite some time before being able to fill in anything. CURE and CEE finally got me started. My first theme answer was BESTREACTOR and I took off from there.~~ I had a few write-overs, 'Aol' to ISP and 'Seaturtle' before BOXTURTLE. HSIA and SNA were unknowns.~~ I really liked 'Taper' - VCR and 'T designation' - LGE.~~ I always like a puzzle with two of my favorite things: 10A - CAT and 44D - ATBATS!

Great puzzle, David! Like Mari, I am humbled. Fun, but a little frustrating.

Thanks for the write-up, Lemon, esp. the peon joke.

My favorite clues had to be CEREAL KILLER, followed closely by VET. I was trying to put in some kind of animal abbreviation to go with Dr before I got the X in BOX TURTLE and the G in ERGOT. wrong kind of vet.

Dennis, keep rambling about your Florida experience. It's fun to hear about how those of us who are not PEONS live!

Got the theme fairly quickly, since all the Oscar hype in the media led me to BEST REACTOR pretty much right away.

It took me a while to get going. I kept thinking a word might be the answer, but then I couldnt think of any perps that fit. Turns out that my original thoughts were right. I ended up starting in the middle, got the theme at REBAR and REACTOR, worked backwards from there. Only Lookup was EASTON, and that gave me the traction to finish this fun puzzle in a decent time.Also, glad to see that Anon's request to remove cats from avatars was not heeded.

I'm having the best puzzle week of the year--having gotten every one since Monday, yay! That doesn't mean it was a speed run today, but it sure was a total pleasure. So thank you, David, and Lemonade for explaining a dozen abbreviations that I got but didn't really understand.

I love it when the misleading cues end up being both guessable (is that a word?) and witty. I initially put 'Count' for Cereal killer--sure that it referred to Count Chocula! Got 'Ergot' soon enough, but it was fun to go down that wrong path.

Dennis, the fun in hearing the 'personal stuff' on this blog is that it's like following a short story or TV show where you look forward to how everything will turn out. I'm always anxious when bloggers have medical issues, for example. Your news today was like a happy ending! So thanks!

Didn't post yesterday because I never got to the puzzle until this morning. I found both yesterday's and today's pretty easy for a Thursday and Friday. I finished both rather quickly and no G ing necessary.

I find it amusing because there are so many days when I hit a brick wall and then check in here and read that most everyone else thinks the puzzle was a piece of cake. It's odd how we each have such diverse reactions. I guess that's one of the many reasons this blog is so much fun to be part of, that and the fact that we learn so much from the sharing of information and life experiences of others.

A fine Friday puzzle. It was too hard for me to call it fun, so I won't. I figured out MISDO but it's a word I've never used, heard or read before.

I do have an iMac. The rest of my family use Mac laptops but I prefer the larger screen and a mouse. Plus, I have no desire to use a computer when I'm out and about or visiting. I am pretty incompetent on a touch pad.

We headed off to school this morning at 8:30. GS Jordan was getting three awards; one for learning all his multiplication facts, one for running a total of 20 miles in the running club and one for improved self control. Of course the last one is a mixed blessing because it means he was having some behavior problems earlier in the year. There is some question whether or not sugar makes kids hyper. But with Jordan, there's no question. He is much more enjoyable to be around when he hasn't had any sugar.

Had to Google twice to get unstuck. Have much to do today. But, really would like more sleep!

Faves: VCR, WRITE, BOX TURTLE. Still have six of the latter. Pretty old now. Favorite one is named Möbius.

I was not thrilled with IMAC. The G5 was better known as a large console work horse. My last such Mac was a G4. Since then, just laptops and newer iMacs. (Speaking of laptops, I finally was able to get my current one backed up and sent in for repairs (used machine from Apple with minor annoying problems). I am currently using my previous MacBook Pro with the backup drive. What a difference, speed-wise.)

This proves I'm definitely not smarter than a 9th grader! I'd like to think five hours of sleep and no breakfast contributed. However, too many unknowns today.

I started off with Aztecs and AOL and it didn't get much better. I'm proud I did get ATBATS and ARRET and CAT.

Dennis, did you get your store sold? New digs sound almost like heaven--wonder if it's hurricane-proof.

I have a niece in Orlando. She invited me down, but looked scared when i joked that I'd come for the winter. Since I don't travel anymore, there is no danger to her.

Raining off and on since around 4 a.m. I think we're in for a deluge this afternoon. My cat, who can't stand to be indoors, came to the window and cried until I opened the garage door so he could get in. (I'm allergic and can't have him in the house.) He usually senses rough weather about half an hour before the storm hits. Sure enough it's starting to pour.

Got it all except (damn) BEST REACTOR. Well, I was misspelling ACAI with an S, so that was the real reason. Two misspells in all. Oh, wait, that A at the end of HSIA was a U in my answers, so that's another mistake. I had better stop checking now.

Misty - I also love misleading clues, and if you add misReading clues then things get really interesting.

I saw the T in 24A and thought the Boston subway system the T. Then I misread DESIGNATIONS as DESTINATIONS and spent quite some time trying to come up with a place in Boston that fits into L_E. I CONTINUED VIOLENTLY on with RANT - LNE, RAIL - LIE. Long Island Expressway, that can't be right. Finally got RAGE - LGE, went back and read the clue correctly and thought as Roseanne Roseannadanna would say "Never mind."

Wow! Is it the afternoon already? Thanks Leomonade 714 for your, as always, entertaining RECAP of the puzzle. Congrats to our whiz kid constructor.

Seemed a little easier to me than yesterday, although I did have some pretty rough spots, especially starting off. I had Dove before SLID and CORDS before STERE which is my unknown WOTD. I caught on to the theme answers fairly quickly. For some reason I was particularly fond of RAISE THE REBAR.

Favorite memory of our trip to Italy back in 2008 was staying in a Villa in the Tuscan county side. At night we would DINE on the terrace under the stars. We could see the lights of SIENA twinkling in the distance.

Man oh man, the ol' Romanization of Chinese words methodology strikes again. So many ways to render foreign sounds with the Roman alphabet! It seems to be a bit of a problem with Arabic, too.

For example, there's the old Wade-Giles spelling method, developed in the 19th century, in which that short but pivotal dynasty just before the Han dynasty was spelled Ch'in. The ' mark was intended to indicate that there is a puff of breathe after the "ch," as opposed to the spelling "chin" (which was later revised to "jin") to represent the word (one meaning of which is gold) that is pronounced without the puff of breath.

In fact, it is said that the name "China" comes from that word.

"Xia" is the newest and current spelling for what used to be spelled "Hsia" in the Wade-Giles system. Another spelling system (the Yale system) spells it "Sya."

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you David Steinberg, for a tough, but very goo, Friday puzzle. I understand you are still high school? If that is so, you are very talented. the best to you. Thank you, Lemonade, for the great write-up. I finally got this done after working on it off and on all day. Nice communicating with you earlier.

This was a tough puzzle. Got through the north, but the south was the bugger. 34D BOX TURTLE was written over so many times you can hardly read the letters.

I missed on ACAI and SIENA. I had ACAA and SAENE, as well as RNE instead of RNA. I did not know the dietary berry, the Italian City, or the polymer.

Missed on HSIA, had HSOA, because I had WROTE instead of WRITE.

By a miracle I remembered ORESTES.

Don't have much time tomorrow. Might work it tomorrow night. See you then.

Lemon, I love cats, but... Always fed a bunch on the farm. The cat belonged to my neighbor who moved. He was the outdoor neighborhood cat, really. Handsome black and white "tuxedo". Neighbor came over accompanied by the cat to ask if I would take the cat named Oreo. I told her, "No."

Later I looked out the kitchen window and saw the cat tossing a big black rat around, then he killed it. I think he was auditioning to be my cat. It was as if her were saying, "See, you can have these nasty rats or you can feed me!" So I am HIS slave.

He has a lovely warm bed in my garage when he deigns to come in. The neighborhood kids and the postman all love him and pat him. He's over ten years old, so must not be suffering much.

My neighbor, who fed Oreo before me, euthanized her three house cats because her new place wouldn't allow them. So Oreo was doomed if I didn't take him. He is so uncannily smart, I think he read her mind.

Friday is a very busy house cleaning day for me, but by lunchtime i needed a quick CW fix.

I have got to create a link directly to the Chgo crossword. i used the Blog link, but not b/4 seeing "RE" was part of the theme. So,,,using redletters, and knowing part of the theme, it still took me 33 minutes???(Ouch) But still very enjoyable.

Jayce@2:59 - FIW! thats the Abb i've been looking for!

PK - Funny, i have a cat i call PK, (short for "pretty Kitty")that was a stray. Oh the stories i could tell...

Finally,,,The last letter to fall was the "A" in 64A (Naut). but i never got to find the answer until i came here because 1 of my kids left the PC volume way up. I was going to run a red letter alphabet thru the empty space, but that first "A" triggered the "completed" bells and whistles, and scared the crap out of me!

I had so forgotten about Chris Smither. I used to love him. I saw him at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA back in the early 70s a couple of times. My girlfriends and I frequented that coffee house often. The night we got drunk (or something) with Tom Rush was interesting : ) There was a dive across the street called The Cripple Creek (like The Band song).

OMG#2 I used to have a cat named Sybil, just for that reason. Girl cats have big attitudes and severe mood swings. The boys tend to just be fat and cuddly (once they've been ALTERED).

CrazyCat, I'm sure I would have loved The Main Point. Places like that are under-appreciated in a big way and live music is....well you had to be there! While not focused on the same genre, there's a place in Lincoln that's still open and that has a similar reputation (nationally, not just locally) that's only knowable if you've been there. The Zoo Bar. This is a 25' old storefront that houses approx 250 people at best and they bring in acts that could command a crowd of 20,000+. It's pretty amazing. Best act I ever saw there was Greg "Fingers" Taylor, of Coral Reefers fame He's the harmonica player). I can't go there too often cuz I can't function the day after.

@Lemonade: Thanks! I didn't have a title for this one since it was a daily puzzle. So far I haven't sent puzzles anywhere else, but only because I've been too busy. There are other places I'm definitely hoping to submit to when things are less busy at school and I have more time to keep track of everything!

Sometimes we wonder why "bad things happen to good people". and then wallah...good things do happen to good people too. Congratulations Dennis on your dream coming true. I got a touching letter in the mail today that made me smile, cry and be happy all at once and also made me proud of what I have and have accomplished. It's been a tough few months.

Beautiful puzzle, Young Mr. Stein Berg and a fun, clear, informative write up, not so young Lemonade 714!

I had 3 words that bothered me.

Stere. As Lemonade 714 pointed out, we use cord as a wood measure. I bought a half cord of wood cut up for burning in a fire pit during winter parties. It's still out there stacked up nicely. People seemed to prefer the gas fire pit.

Loci. This makes sense. It just wasn't hidden in the gray matter.

Dele. I must have known this when I was young and did a bit of copy editing. I recognize the mark but didn't know it's name. Thank you for the link, Lemonade.

The theme was fun. Catchy like the A-A-M-C-O jingle! Oh Barry G., I'm glad you hung in there!

@Dennis, that is awesome, Make sure to have some good binoculars. You can see all manner of things. Peter and I had a house in Crescent Beach, FL and we enjoyed sitting out watching boats go by on the waterway and on the ocean side there was the nature and so many people walking and swimming, there was never a dull moment.

HSIA. I read Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See and while I understand it is fiction, I took the the history in it to be correct. She explained a lot about dynasty's.

Argyle, I promised you a recipe. Quiche without a crust. Saute three strips of bacon cut up with a small onion, green pepper, cut up mushrooms (I used buttons) in butter and one clove of garlic chopped. Scramble 4 lg eggs with cream, milk...whatever you have. Steam 1/2 head of broccoli, and 1/2 head of cauliflower (cover your ears Dennis) Let the vegies and bacon mixture cool. Mix in with the egg mix. 9x13 pan...layer the bottom with 1 lb shredded swiss. Pour the combined concoction, bake 350 degrees 40 min top with shredded sharp cheddar. Serve with toast; butter, honey, jam whatever you might have in your pantry.

Hola Everyone, After a looong time, I finally got the theme idea, but I feel like I'm dumber than a post today. The short answers like ums and LCD and Yoo instead of Boo were the things that did me in.

When I found out that a 15 year old constructed this puzzle that nearly did me in, I really did feel dumb.

Everyone else seemed to have much the same problems. Well, everyone, tomorrow is another day and another puzzle!!

Love this blog... Did well (for me) today but like others had to google 2 things in the SE.. I do the puzzle daily except for Sunday. The Detroit Free Press does not publish it on Sunday. Does anyone know of a website where the Sunday LA Times crossword can be downloaded and printed??